COSTA MESA, Calif. _ Dan Feeney, the Los Angeles Chargers rookie offensive lineman, knows come Sunday he'll have a big, nasty defending NFL champion lined up in front of him, ready to try to run him over.
It's called a "jam" front, and it's a bit of a Patriots specialty.
As far as first starts in the NFL go, there could've been easier ones.
"I'm getting blessed by fire a little bit," Feeney said with a smile.
Feeney won't face Tom Brady on Sunday when the Chargers face the Patriots in New England _ that'll be the defense's job. But he and the other 10 on offense will get to take on a different, intimidating challenge. They'll have to figure out a Bill Belichick defense.
The numbers shouldn't cause anyone to shudder in fear. This year's edition of the Patriots' defense is in the bottom 10 in points allowed (23.7), last in yards given up (426.7) and in the bottom half in takeaways.
Maybe, it's a down year.
Or, maybe, it was just a slow start. In Week 7, New England held a high-powered Atlanta offense to seven points.
"It sure didn't look like they struggled last Sunday night," Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt said. "I don't buy into that."
It's not just Sunday's performance, though. In a run as one the NFL's best teams since Brady became the starting quarterback, the Patriots have developed a reputation for disguising their defenses with unorthodox looks.
Even a veteran such as Philip Rivers, who in 183 straight starts has seen close to it all, said the Patriots are always a little tricky.
"They're like they've been for a lot of years in terms of what they do," Rivers said. "They never let you get comfortable, they give you multiple looks, they do things that I guess you would call unorthodox, but watching them do it, knowing the history they have there over the years, it's not unusual for them."
It forces a player who aims to have the defense figured before the snap to read, recognize and react in the split second after the ball is put into play.
"I think you work as hard as you can pre-snap; it's one of those games where you have to read it out and kind of play it by the book," Rivers said. "Don't try to do too much, take what they give you, because shoot, they've been that way for a long time. They want to make you earn every yard you get."
